Tish Hinojosa hops from one style, and company, to another

"In a selfish little way, I feel really lucky, because I can wear two hats at once. It's not like I was raised in a little town on the border somewhere. I was actually a city girl raised in San Antonio. I can use the Texas or I can use the San Antonio or I can use my parents -- the fact that they were from Mexico and didn't speak English -- as things that keep me rooted to my region. Our home life was very close to our culture. But, we were city kids. So one part of me is essentially an American kid that was exposed to everything -- TV, radio -- like anybody else. Only I feel like I got a stereo image that I can jump from one side to the other whenever I feel like it."

That stereo image comes through loud and clear on Destiny's Gate, wherein Hinojosa jumps from the trumpet-laden Spanish-language "Esperate (Wait for Me)" to the country-as-it-gets "Looking for Love in the Pouring Rain" to the punchy swing of "I'm Not Through Loving You Yet." Hinojosa works with a broad palette, and Destiny's Gate, more than any album she's recorded yet, blends her many colors.

"I didn't know I was soaking in all this stuff, but I was. Those influences come out a lot more on this record. The part of me that extended out further than my region has always been there, and I've just gotten a chance to showcase it more on this record."